Sarah Palin's flirtation with a presidential run is back in full swing. The former Alaska governor will headline a major "tea party" gathering in Iowa in September, just as the Republican nomination fight begins in earnest. Tea Party of America Wednesday announced Palin's participation in the Sept. 3 "Restoring America" event. "We don't need a 'fundamental transformation' of America. We need a restoration of all that is good and strong and free," Palin says in the group's news release.

With less than a month to go before the Iowa straw poll, it has become make-or-break time for Tim Pawlenty. And he is quickening his pace accordingly. Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor who has seen his months-long presidential bid gain little traction with Republican voters, has the most aggressive schedule this week of any GOP contender - and all of it will take place in Iowa, the state that has become his proving ground. The straw poll, an Iowa tradition that is more of a test of candidate's viability than a coronation, takes place in Ames on Aug. 13. A debate will be held in Ames two days earlier.

Mitt Romney made a belated 2012 campaign debut in Iowa on Friday, dipping a brown-loafered toe into the state that casts the first votes in the presidential contest. Romney, who will formally enter the Republican race next week, has largely shunned Iowa since falling short here in the 2008 caucuses. He spent much of the day bobbing and weaving around questions about his commitment to Iowa. "My guess is you'll have plenty of opportunity to see me. I care about Iowa," he told a midday audience in Des Moines, after refusing to say whether he'd compete in a nonbinding straw vote this summer or go all-out in the caucuses next winter.

With her head and neck arched forward and her arms outstretched behind her, Diane Kleen steels herself for a curious test of perseverance. As someone nearby shouts, "Go!" her tensed muscles relax. She teeters toward the table in front of her, and an instant later, her face plops into a plateful of pie. Chocolate cream pie. A grand and gooey tradition — the pie-eating contest — is underway at the Iowa State Fair. A couple of minutes later, her plate is empty, and a smile is discernable even before Kleen uses a wad of paper towels to wipe smears of chocolate, cream and crust from her face.

Jane Elliott has blue eyes. The years have turned her once-brown hair a bright snowy white, and at 75 years old she's rounder, maybe shorter, than she used to be. But eye color doesn't change. Elliott, an Iowa teacher, made deliberate use of that in 1968 when she created a now-famous exercise for her classroom of white third-graders. It was the day after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and she was struggling to explain the concept of racism.

BOSTON -- The chase is on. Shawn Johnson held on to her U.S. national championships all-around title Saturday by pounding out eight solid routines over two nights, but Nastia Liukin closed fast and with flash. And the two Americans did nothing to discourage the sense that they are co-favorites to win the Olympic all-around gold medal in August. Johnson, 16, of West Des Moines, Iowa, earned her win with resolute performances on every apparatus and cemented it with her athletic floor routine.

Picking a president is serious business, but there's always the chance that chocolate-chunk cookies will make a difference. When it was suggested to Marsha Marlow and Carol Lockard by Clinton headquarters that they show up Thursday in the library of the local high school with cookies, they took no chances. "Kind of our bribe," said Marlow, who arrived early to set up a table with stickers, posters and sweets. Gary Thierer, precinct captain for former North Carolina Sen.

It's not often you see a presidential candidate stumped on the stump. But there was Sen. Barack Obama, fielding questions in yet another rural high school, when an Iowan stood up to ask about something that weighed on her mind: "What does your logo stand for?" "Oh, that logo, that's easy," the senator from Illinois began, turning to ponder the O-shaped symbol with the red-and-white stripes across the bottom. "This is . . . " A pause. "Well, first of all, I didn't really design it.

Re "In Iowa cornfields, a left-tilting tradition," Dec. 30 The Times brings to light, at long last, the rich history of Iowa's progressive politics. Too often it goes unnoticed or overlooked by the modern progressive movement that much of my native state was established by a strong lot of liberal-leaning Norwegian, German and Irish settlers. Each group came with a sense not only of hard work but the value of human dignity and a healthy respect for a need to maintain our role as our brother's keeper in both times of hardship and riches.

Campaigning in northwestern Iowa on Saturday, Hillary Rodham Clinton told voters that a Senate resolution on Iran she supported has helped bring that country to the negotiating table while stemming the violence in Iraq. Clinton said tougher economic sanctions have been "a contributing factor to Iranians' backing off." Though brief, Clinton's remarks were also a rare acknowledgment of progress in Iraq.